Stripping paint off an alu frame- any tips?

One of me bikes is looking decidedly tatty, and I was wondering about stripping the paint off it, and polishing it up or something. Maybe just leave it raw.

Any tips for stripping; Nitromors? What about the fiddly bits? Have it done professionally?

And is it ok to leave it raw? Should I treat it in any way? Clear powdercoat?

Anyone done this to good effect?

do powder coaters not do the stripping as part of the process?

Yes they do. It’s just quite expensive to have it dipped and stripped then coated. If I were going to spend that much, I may as well get it resprayed for virtually the same cost.

Yep, if you get it stripped, polished and clear coated it will work out around £150. That’s what I did, didn’t trust myself to do a good job

Bead blast and powder coat only coast £40 down my way.

Have stripped several frames myself, by the time you’ve brought the stuff and all the time it takes imo pay some one else to do it.

Stripped a Cannondale rear triangle ages ago and it looked great – paint peeled off with minimal nitromoors. Tried the same with a Giant Trance rear a few years back and was a real mess – different paint, didn’t come off cleanly and the ally underneath looked horrible.

Battered bikes look cool anyhow. (or is it just me?)

Yep, if you get it stripped, polished and clear coated it will work out around £150.

No it won’t. No it bloody won’t. I’m not paying that! 😯

Armourtex near me in Hackney do a whole strip and powdercoat from £65 for an alu frame. Probbly less for just a strip and clear lacquer coat. They’re very highly regarded amongst the Fixierati here, and can do some lovely colours. If I am going to get it redone, I’ll use them.

What’s the deal with leaving it raw though? I’ve seen other bikes just raw metal. Looks quite good; just basic and funktional, utilitarian.

What about polishing? A proper PITA? Years of painstaking work?

I’d call it a day’s job. A long day if it’s a FS frame as they’re fiddly and you’ll need to mask (or remove) the bearings. A much quicker job with a hardtail.

Nitromors, a paint brush, a couple of toothbrushes, a load of newspaper, some safety specs/gloves and a damp cloth. The main sections of paint will come off very easily – it can actually be quit disturbing the first time you do it as the paint makes noises, bubbles up and falls away before your very eyed!! Nooks, crannies and around the welds usually needs a few applications and sometimes working at with stripper/toothbrush. Really stubborn little flecks can be encouraged with a sharp point (like a needle).

What you have to do with the bare metal depends entirely on how it looks ‘au natural’ and what you want. A neat finish can take anything from 10 mins to three or four hours. What ever you go for, I’d advise against a clearcoat as it will look shit very quickly once it gets a few chips. The bare metal is more durable a finish and can easily, and quickly, be revitalised with just a few minutes of metal polish/buffing.

You stripped your Dynatech with nitromors no? so you know how evil that cack is. I bet if you just go for black or white, a colour they do in batches, and go down the powdercoaters with all yer threads, headset etc sealed properly and give the bloke 35 quid, they won’t say no. what bike?

Cannondale Kev. One reason is it’s tatty; I noticed a fair patch of paint has fallen off the disc mount, and another is to get rid of the Cannondale branding which attracts the attention of too many scrotes. Quite like the ‘battered’ look.

Think I’ll Nitromors the bugger, then have a go at just getting it to look reasonable, before going mental with the aluminium polishing malarky…

Armourtex in Clapton do some proper nice paintjobs, best to get them to do the whole thing really. I think for this frame, seeing as it’s quite old now, I’ll just strip it meself.

Stripped, it could look a bit like this:

Which is quite nice actually.

Yes, I think I’ll do that.

do it. it’ll feel like a new bike. Fresher and newer feeling if someone else does it and you go pick it up, rather than huge effort on yer own part? like that old vertex that keeps changing it’s spots! I keep thinking to sell it, but nice bikes are keepers 🙂

Just breathe on the frame, all your hot air will just melt the paint away. 😆

😉

😆

Can I just get you to look at it Gary-C? Your nasty face will be sufficient to strip the paint off. 😉

Kev; that’s sort of part of the idea really. It’ll be getting a Reba, as I’m selling the Lefty. So it will feel quite different once I’m finished with it.

Quite interested in the idea of polishing it, but that’s some serious hard work. Might do a small area as a test.

What stuffs for polishing alu?

I smirked Gary_C!

Nah, Elf, my face would melt the ally…. 😆

😆

So you’re only safe around Titanium then?

Ooh I’m getting right fired up for this. Earlier, it was just an idea. Now, I really want to do it.

Kev, you gotta keep the old Vertex mate. Can’t sell that.

Ear, you seen me email about me broken seatpost?

Ooh look shiny!!

Oh dear. What have I started? 😐

[Hijack] Does anyone know if anodising be stripped in the same way (ie. dipped or bead blasted?? Quite fancy this for my FS [/Hijack]

SCHHHwiiing!! ohh that so nice. shiney. **** yer seatpost it’s rubbish. shine it all.

Considering doing this for my bike. So will a powdercoaters dip, strip, polish and laquer? If so can anyone recommend a firm to do this?

I’ve got about 99% of the paint off of an old Marin Riftzone. I was going to have it anodised but now I’m planning on leaving it raw. There’s still some stubborn paint in the nooks and crannies of the swing arm I’ve got to get rid of. I’ve used a litre of Nitromors on it so far. The top coats of lacquer and paint came off very easily but the undercoat is a lot tougher. Good luck!

Oh, poo.

Now I’M doing it!

Got an old kona blast frame .which is now cooking in stripper…I figure I only need a few bits to build a awesome single- braked single speed pub bike..

Ok crankset, front wheel, grips, seat and seatpost required, but you get the idea

Yep, I stripped a cannondale mb a few years back with nitromors, no problem, tried to laquer myself but couldnt get an even coat. Id take it to someone who knows the score amd professional finish 🙂

Ah what forgot all about this!

Right. I’m off out to get some Nitromors…

Anyone heard about soda blasting[/url]? Reckon this would be a good idea for paint stripping? I’m doing my Cannondale one way or another.

Well I’ve had a good go at it, but the paint is tougher than anything, and Nitromors is doing very little really. Softens it a bit making scraping it off a bit easier, but that’s about it.

I had toyed with the idea of polishing it up, but that’s a whole other world of pain I reckon. The bare alu bits are looking ok just ‘brushed’ tbh.

Oh, and a little tip:

Don’t use nitrile rubber gloves, as Nitromors will melt through them. Vinyl ones are ok though.

what type of nitromors are you using? the automotive one is a lot stronger than the house hold one. also, it’ll only work on paint, not powder coat…

I can sell you a Kinesis frame that doesn’t need stripping 😉
Please don’t post any more shiny, I’m already wondering how I could get the 456SS that shiny.

it’ll only work on paint, not powder coat…

I think I’ve worked that out now. 😀

The only option seems to be something called Permatex Gasket Remover which seems to be nasty carcinogenic stuff, so I’m going to just sand the rest off. It’s half done now anyway.

I would recommend, to anyone contemplating stripping a Cannondale frame, to have it done professionally. Because it is a pain in the bum. I woon’t advise any sort of sand-blasting type method, as that can remove too much metal and weaken the aluminium apparently.

Have stripped several frames myself, by the time you’ve brought the stuff and all the time it takes imo pay some one else to do it.

I could have listened to this in the beginning.

Ah well.

It will look good once done though.

Well I’ve had a good go at it, but the paint is tougher than anything, and Nitromors is doing very little really. Softens it a bit making scraping it off a bit easier, but that’s about it.

How long are you leaving it? How thick do you apply the Nitromors? Specialized paint starts falling off after 30 seconds or so; Orange powdercoat takes a few minutes.

Seat Post in the post thuis morning
posted it pikey second class and it still cost me the same as a pint!

Elfin: We’re in this together! I’ve spent the day frustrated that the paint on my Cannondale is still very much on! 🙁

well, inspired by this thread, I resurrected an old Kona Blast.

Bike was “free” as most of the bits were from the Shed. Apart from a few bits like cables and headset, its all STW sponsored from past and present too…

[/url]
IMAG0218[/url] by Dancake2010[/url], on Flickr

I got bored rubbing the paint off in the end so it is a bit “rat” . perfect for short 4 mile work run though.

In my case, I used some ronseal stuff which you leave for plus 6 hrs. It is a tenner though and I used half of it so not recommended. I had some for stripping doors already

It’s quite popular to polish the aluminium swingarm on motorbikes. A quick google came up with this place selling kits.

http://www.btinternet.com/~eric.guy/kits.htm

You have to use clear lacquer afterwards otherwise the aluminium will oxidise.

mansonsoul – Member
Anyone heard about soda blasting? Reckon this would be a good idea for paint stripping? I’m doing my Cannondale one way or another.

i’ve had two frames soda blasted and i’d highly recomend it,just had another done this week and dropped it off at the powder coaters yesterday.frames have always come back looking brand new.
this was an real old dog of a kona frame,made from easton ultra lite,a quick buff with a scotch brite pad and it was looking sooper shiny – then i spoilt it by painting it 🙁

You have to use clear lacquer afterwards otherwise the aluminium will oxidise.

This simply isn’t true. Aluminium oxidises very quickly, so what you have after you’ve washed the stripper away is pretty much how it’ll always look. It does not corrode in anything like the way a steel frame would. Polished frames will dull a little over time, but a quick rub down with metal polish fixes that. The only thing I have ever known to diminish a stripped/polished frame is the marks from sweat dripped onto the top tube.

Nitromors will stip powdercoat, it just takes longer. Besides there’s powder coat and there’s powder coat. It’s a process and can use different chemistries which will have different resistance to the chemicals in notromors (primarily Dichloromethane and Methanol).

I imagine soda blasting is not blasting at all but is soaking in CAsutic Soda (Sodium hydroxide, NaOH). In my experience NAOH will strip most paints eventually, especially if it’s hot.

Three fish is right, aluminium is much more reactive than iron but the oxide formed is tightly adhered unlike rust which flakes off. ALuminium frames aren’t pure alluminium though so that makes a difference. Laquer will help keep the finish for longer. A car refinisher may be able to help as they use clear coats when painting cars. Might not cost you much either if you wait for them to do another job.

soda blasting is…..blasting with bicarb of soda. Nice and gentle for thin ali tubes.